There has been a widespread proliferation of satellite communications systems in recent years. Many consumers have acquired satellite communications equipment for home reception of satellite broadcast television signals, and many businesses have acquired such equipment for the purpose of receiving and/or transmitting useful business data. However, proper configuration and use of conventional satellite communications equipment can require considerable technical skill beyond the capabilities of the average consumer or business person.
The present invention simplifies the configuration and usage of satellite communications equipment so that a relatively unskilled consumer or business person can obtain maximum advantage from such equipment with comparatively little effort. This is accomplished by equipping a computer with special purpose hardware and software, so that the computer may control all facets of the satellite communications operation in a manner which the user can easily define and readily adapt to changing situations.
The hardware consists of a complete audio, video and data satellite receiver/demodulator built onto one IBM/PC compatible peripheral card-sized circuit board. Power and tuning information is obtained from the computer's system bus. Data received from the satellite may be supplied to the computer via an RS-232 compatible serial interface. The hardware provides baseband output which is compatible with either the VC/II, B-MAC, or OAK descrambling systems; 950 to 1450 megahertz ("MHz") digitally synthesized RF tuning; compatibility with both the C and Ku satellite communication bands; two separate digitally synthesized audio channels, one of which can be used to demodulate frequency shift keyed ("FSK") data at rates up to 9600 baud; programmable audio and RF tuning, as well as programmable audio bandwidths and video invert; a capability to disable all programmable functions with a special system electronically programmable read only memory ("EPROM"); and, an on-board 20 volt power converter for supplying power to a satellite receiver's low noise block down-converter ("LNB").